The Process: How a film is made

1
The Process How a film is made

• Prof. P.V. Viswanath
• EDHEC
• June 2008

2
What are Studios today?

• We start with the notion of a studio which is a
  primarily a service organization a clearing
  house.
• It might contract with a producer to buy a
  produced film
• It might act as a financial intermediary for the
  financing of the production of that film
• It might arrange for advertising of the film and
  its distribution
• It might enter into contracts with distribution
  companies or directly with exhibitors.
• It usually outsources the actual production and
  financing of films to corporations.
• Revenues flow into the studio and are paid out to
  the various participants

3
The Studio System

• Before todays studios, there was a studio
  system.
• The studio system refers to a means of film
  production and distribution dominant in Hollywood
  from the early 1920s through the early 1950s.
• Under this system, large motion picture studios
• produced movies primarily on their own filmmaking
  lots
• with creative personnel under often long-term
  contract and
• pursued vertical integration through ownership or
  effective control of distributors and movie
  theaters, guaranteeing additional sales of films
  through manipulative booking techniques.
• The Paramount case, a federal anti-trust case
  essentially ended the studio system in 1948.

4
The Six Studios

• Today there are six major studios
• Paramount Pictures owned by Viacom
• 20th Century Fox, owned by News Corporation
• Universal Studios owned by NBC Universal, which
  is owned jointly by General Electric and Vivendi
• Warner Bros. Pictures owned by Time Warner
• Columbia Pictures owned by Sony, and
• Walt Disney Pictures owned by the Walt Disney
  Company

5
Genesis

• A movie starts with one or more of the following
• An Idea
• A book
• A magazine article
• An original story that could be adapted
• An old movie or play that could be remade

6
The pitch

• Most ideas that eventually become films are
  presented to studio executives orally in what is
  called a pitch.
• Studio chiefs look for
• Suspense, Laughter, Violence, Hope
• Heart, Nudity, Sex, Happy endings
• They look for what is likely to attract/repel
• Equity partners/financiers
• Merchandisers, Video chain stores
• Foreign pay-TV outlets, toy licensees

7
Developing an idea into a film

• This is the realm of producers.
• Though these producers may be independent,
  studios often give them
• Offices on their lot
• Money to hire writers
• Money to option books
• To cover other expenses
• In 2002, the six studios had 2500 ideas in some
  stage of development

8
The Script

• If an idea is sufficiently distinctive and
  attractive, it must be converted into an
  acceptable script.
• The script is the blueprint for the making of a
  movie.
• The script is written, revised, polished and
  sometimes, completely reconceived this is
  called development.
• If the script is acceptable to all parties, it
  gets green-lighted, i.e. it moves into
  pre-production.

9
More about conversion to a script

• Projects that fail to get green-lighted get put
  into turnaround this gives the producer the
  right to sell them to another studio
• Screenwriters work in teams and produce a script
  on speculation or spec.
• They get paid in stages
• Some portion on signing a contract
• Some portion on the completion of the first and
  second drafts
• The balance contingent on the story being
  actually filmed as a movie.

10
Green-Lighting

• In order to get green-lighted, it must be
  acceptable to a director, who will then be
  willing to commit to it.
• To do this, they have to have some control over
  the script.
• Often they get credit as the author or coauthor.
• They often modify the script to suit their own
  directorial strengths.
• Often producers may need to get one or more top
  stars to act in the film in order to get the
  script green-lighted.

11
What Green-Lighting means

• Green-lighting is a big commitment
• Directors and stars usually have pay or play
  clauses to pay their full fixed compensation,
  once a film is green-lit, even if it is then
  abandoned.
• The average commitment for a studio green light
  in 2003 was about 130 million.

12
The Budget

• Before green-lighting, the producer has to
  develop a tentative budget based on a
  shot-by-shot breakdown of the script.
• It specifies the total days of shooting and
  estimates all expenses.
• The above-the-line costs include agreed-upon
  payments for buying rights, developing the script
  and compensating starts, directors, producers and
  writers.
• The below-the-line expenditures include all the
  daily expenses during the actual production and
  postproduction periods.

13
Above the line with Terminator 3

• 70.5m in above-the-line expenses
• 19.6m for the story
• 29.25m for Arnold Schwarzenegger
• 5m for the director, Jonathan Mostow
• 10m for four producers
• The remaining for supporting actors and perk
  packages for the star and director

14
Above the line with Terminator 3

• 57.4m in below-the line expenses to account for
  100 days of shooting for the actors unit and 67
  days for the second units.
• Second units shoot scenes not requiring the
  appearance of the major actors.
• Stunts are usually filmed by second units.
• They photograph backgrounds for shots in which
  actors are later added by the lab
• They film landmarks, crowds, traffic and other
  scenery that show the audience what the
  characters are supposed to be looking at.

15
Below-the-line budget

• 12.1m for constructing, dressing, operating sets
• 7.7 for special effects
• 2.6 for lighting the sets
• 2.4 for the camera crew
• 359,000 for sound
• 566,000 for make-up
• 1.6m for wardrobe
• 5.4 m for second units
• 4.4m for locations

16
More below-the-line

• 3.9 for transportation
• 1.5m for stunts
• 2m for the production staff
• 395,000 for extras
• 1.6m for the art department
• 1.2m for buying and processing the film
• 1.9m for renting studio space
• 28m for 200 days of post-production work
  digital effects, editing, dubbing, music and for
  the opening and end titles.

17
General Expenses and Insurance

• The general part of the budget was 13.4m.
• 2.4m for the completion bond
• 2m for cast insurance
• 2m for legal and accounting expenses
• 7m for unforeseen contingencies
• 5m for 3600 prints
• 45m for advertising and publicity

18
Other cashflows

• Major merchandise tie-in partners also help with
  advertising.
• For example, the James Bond film Die Another Day
  had 120m in merchandiser advertising.
• Merchandisers could have long-term contractual
  agreements with studios, as well.
• In addition, box-office revenues, video revenues,
  merchandising revenues all have to be forecast.

19
On to the actual movie making

• Once a film is green-lighted, the studios
  executes contracts with the producers,
  co-financiers, directors and other principals in
  the production
• The initial installment of funds is deposited in
  a bank account set up for the production.
• A team of executives is assigned to complete the
  film.
• The film is set up as a separate corporation and
  hires hundreds of temporary employees including
  actors, artists, technicians, constructions
  workers, drivers, caterers and personal
  assistants.

20
Producer hierarchy

• The line producer or production manager who, on a
  day-to-day basis ensures that the director has
  what he needs to make the movie.
• The first assistant director (AD) who schedules
  the arrivals and departures of actors and
  technicians on the set so that the director can
  efficiently shoot the movie.
• A director of photography (DP) who supervises the
  camera and lighting crew

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Further down the hierarchy

• A production designer responsible for creating
  the visual illusion on sets and locations.
• A wardrobe head responsible for outfitting all
  the actors
• A location manager responsible for the logistics
  of all the shooting done outside the studio
• A unit manager, whose staff tracks the
  expenditures, keeps the books and makes sure the
  bills are paid.

22
Shooting Schedules

• A detailed shooting schedule is established,
  taking into account the stars schedules and the
  most efficient use of expensive locations and
  other time-sensitive resources.
• Stars limit their availability to a specific
  number of weeks, called the guaranteed period
  after which they get paid a huge increment.
• All scenes in a given location are shot at the
  same time, regardless of when they take place in
  the story.

23
Storyboards

• The first step in the pre-production process
  (prep) is storyboarding.
• A film storyboard is a large comic of the film or
  some section of the film produced beforehand to
  help film directors visualize the scenes and find
  potential problems before they occur.
• Often storyboards include arrows or instructions
  that indicate movement.
• A storyboard provides a visual layout of events
  as they are to be seen through the camera lens.
• Storyboards allow visual thinking, planning and
  experimenting, particularly when working in
  groups.

24
Casting

• The next step is casting the speaking roles.
• A casting director is used who acts as a
  specialized consultant in suggesting actors for
  movie parts.
• Sometimes directors want to work with specific
  actors whom theyve worked with successfully
  previously.
• If a director believes that an actor will
  contribute to the success of the film, the script
  may even be rewritten to suit the actor.
• After a screen test, the selected actors are
  offered contracts specifying the periods they
  will be available for principal shooting and then
  for dubbing and reshooting.

25
Creating the Setting

• The third step is creating the setting in which
  the story takes place.
• The production designer designs the sets, props
  and clothing for every scene.
• These are incorporated into the storyboards.
• Engineers, carpenters and other specialists then
  create the necessary ingredients to transform
  these designs into three-dimensional full-scale
  reality.

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Technical Details and Logistics

• Technicians must simultaneously be hired for the
  camera manipulation, for sound and for lighting
• The producer needs to hire hairdressers, makeup
  artists and wardrobe dressers.
• Location scouts find locations that fit into the
  production design
• Then logistical arrangements must be made for the
  arrival of the technicians and actors.

27
Shooting the film

• Every day of shooting is expensive the average
  daily running cost of a film in 2000 was
  165,000.
• Directors depend on their first assistant
  directors to act as their executive officers.
• After actors take their place on the scene (a
  given camera position is called a setup) and the
  director of photography (DP) is satisfied, the
  scene is shot this is called a take.
• The director views a digital version of the take
  and if he is dissatisfied will do several more
  takes.
• Sound engineers and DPs may also request
  re-takes.
• After a successful take, the director moves on to
  the next setup.

28
Continuation of the Shooting

• At the end of a day, the director, the AD, the
  producers, the DP, the production designer and
  editor go into a projection room to watch the
  unedited dailies from the days shooting .
• The director determines whether he has the shots
  necessary for the film.
• The studio executives also look at the dailies
  and make their own comments.
• The unit managers send lists of each days
  expenditures to the head of physical production,
  who keeps costs from exceeding budget.
• When the last take is completed, principal
  photography is over.
• At this point, computer graphics are added and
  missing sounds (such as crowd sounds) are
  inserted.

29
Editing and Film Completion

• Finally the film is edited by the editor.
• The director closely supervises the editing,
  which can, sometimes, drastically change the
  nature of a film.
• This procedure is done on a computer.
• Once the editing decisions are all made, the
  directors cut is produced.
• The studio usually has final control of the film
  before the final cut is made.
• At this point, the accountants come up with the
  final computation of the negative cost.
• The film goes into inventory awaiting a decision
  as to when it will be released.